Inferno
by lovepb13
Summary: A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Inferno (1/?)  
Fandom: Criminal Minds  
Pairing: Emily/JJ  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: I do not own _Criminal Minds_. This is just for entertainment purposes.  
Summary: A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?

..................................................................................................

"New York City. We have five victims." Jennifer Jareau pointed her controller at the screen causing four crime scene photos to appear on the screen. "The first..." She took a deep breath, holding back the emotions that threatened to spill over and suppressing thoughts of Henry playing and smiling then ending up like the first victim. "The first victim was a four week old baby girl, Emilia Carson, found her crib at the children's home she was staying at waiting to be adopted. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, forensics say the weapon used was most likely a heavy book or similar shaped rectangular box." Her eyes swept the room looking between her colleges for a flicker of emotion, seeing it only in Hotch's and Emily's eyes. The brunette FBI agent had something akin to understanding and sympathy in her eyes as she met JJ's eyes, she smiled encouraging at JJ.

"The second and third victims were found outside a gay bar in the East Village, both were men in their mid-twenties. David Anderson and James O'Neill. They shared an address four blocks from the bar and friends have confirmed that they had been a couple since highschool. Both had their hearts cut out." JJ clicked again, the photo enlarging to show the bloodied holes in the victims' chests. "They were still alive at the time."

"Damn." Morgan muttered, involuntarily clutching his chest.

"The cut marks were crude so it's safe to say that there is no history of medical training in our UnSub's past." JJ continued. "The fourth victim, Tom Ryman, was found outside an all you can eat buffet, he was in his fifties and his stomach had been cut open in a deep slash from left to right. Again the cut was crude." She clicked again, bringing the last photo to the front. "The fifth and final victim was a woman in her late forties, Antoinette Nevau, the inherited CEO of an international shipping company in town for the week. She was found with her hands removed, again without any skill, in the changing rooms of an upmarket boutique."

"What makes you think this is all one UnSub?" Rossi asked, flicking through the file in front of him and scrutinising the crime scene photos.

"The daughter of one of the cops working the case noticed a link in the victimology." JJ explained, clicking again so the screen went black. "Something she was studying in her college literature class."

"_Divina __Commedia: inferno__."_ Emily said quietly, looking up to JJ for confirmation.

JJ nodded. "For those of us who don't speak italian or recently researched it we are looking at someone enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, specifically his version of hell. The UnSub appears to be targeting people who fit into Dante's nine circles of hell, working in from the first circle. That means we can reasonablly assume that there will be a least five more victims."

"The nine circles?" Morgan asked, only vaguely familiar with the poem.

JJ clicked and a drawing of Dante's model of hell appeared on the screen, each circle highlighting as JJ talked the team through the first four circles. "The first victim represents limbo, the unbaptised. The second and third represent the lovers, those who are overcome by lust. The fourth victim represents the gluttons and the fifth those who coveted and hoarded material possesions." She then highlighted the other five circles. "Assuming that the UnSub sticks to the poem the next victim will have something to do with water or sorrow, the one after that will be involved in some kind of heresy towards the church, the next someone with a history of violence, the eighth someone who has commited fraud or a treatcherous act and the ninth someone who committed treason, perhapse against their family or against the church or a religious figure. You all have an abbridged copy of the poem in your file, it would be best if you aquainted yourself with it on the plane, we need to get as much about victimology from the poem as we can."

Hotch nodded. "Wheels up in an hour."

..................................................................................................

JJ couldn't help but smile when she heard a sigh of frustration drift accross the table. She looked up to see Emily squint at the file in front of her and scan accross the same line another few times.

"Need to brush up on your italian?" JJ asked, her shorter hair swinging just above her shoulders as she nodded towards Emily's file.

"Very cute." Emily bit, though her voice void of bitterness. "I suppose everybody else got a copy in english?"

"You can't handle the challenge?" JJ smirked, indulging in the banter that had been missing from their relationship since she had come back from maternity leave. She had known that things would change but she had hoped that it wouldn't be this much, she missed their gentle flirting. Maybe she should tell her about Will? "I thought you were fluent in italian."

"I am." Emily defended. "This is broken with latin, where did you get it from?"

JJ winced. "Google Translator."

Emily laughed. "Next time you want to check up in my linguistic skills get Garcia to do the internet translation."

JJ's retort died on her lips as Reid slipped in beside her and Morgan took the seat next to Emily.

"Preliminary profile." Hotch prompted, leaning against the back of Morgan's seat.

"White male, well educated, probably older. 40s or 50s." Morgan began.

"Associations with the church, at the very least a religious upbringing. He doesn't seem to be acting out against the church, more like doing it's will so it's unlikely he has ever had problems with the church." Reid continued.

"He's well read and if her goes by Dante's political leadings then we can assume he wholly supports the Vatican and has little patience for government." Emily said before opening the laptop in front of her and bringing up Garcia's webcam. "Garcia, can you see if any of the victims had ties to politics or the government."

"You bettcha Brown Eyed Girl, it may take me a an hour or two though." Garcia said, voice light. She them mouthed a question for only Emily to see: "How's JJ holding up? One blink for good, two for bad."

Emily just shrugged and blinked three times.

"Not sure?" Garcia mouthed.

Emily blinked once.

Garcia nodded sadly before mouthing one last request. "Look after her?"

Emily blinked once for the last time and closed the laptop.

Oblivious to the silent conversation the others carried on the conversation.

"So apart from the peom there was nothing else as to how the UnSub chose the victims?" Rossi asked.

"Nothing so far." JJ answered. "They seem pretty random, it'll make him harder to catch."

"Was there anything similar about the crime scenes, any trace of a signature?" Morgan asked, flipping through his file in search of answers.

"Nothing obvious." JJ said.

"How long was there between the four?" Reid asked.

JJ closed her eyes for a second and wished to God that just one member of the team would look for the answer in the file _before _asking her, not during, not after, before. Before she could answer Emily's rich voice answered for her.

"There was a month between the first and second attacks but since then there has been only seven days. Perhaps he was out of town after the first murder, is he is planning to do all nine then I doubt he would schedule a month between enacting each circle. It would take too long and if he is as educated as he appears then he would know better than to give us that much time to catch him."

"Maybe he was children and the remorse he felt after the first kill took him that long to get over?" Rossi mused.

JJ shook her head. "He could have started with a pagan or someone who was older and unbaptised, do you really think he wouldn't have taken that choice is her was a father?"

"Parents have been known to kill their own children, I don't think we can rule a marriage and children out." Morgan said.

"Reid when we touch down I want you and Morgan to come with me to the first, third and fourth scenes, they're all a good drive from the station. JJ, Emily I want you to set up and then head out to the second scene, see if you can get any information from the bar staff about anyone who looked suspicious hanging around, perhaps alone and not fitting in? Then go see the friends and family, picking a gay couple was a very specific choice, see if you can find any red flags." Hotch said.

"With the religious aspect it could just be prejudice?" Emily offered. "The church isn't exactly an equal opportunity organisation."

"If it was more to do with the victim sexuality I wouldn't expect the hearts to be cut out more likely..."

"Okay man, we got it, no need to spell it out." Morgan said, wincing and pressing his legs together under the table.

"If one or both of the victims was having an affair..." Rossi mused aloud.

Hotch nodded. "This is the only lead that we have that the UnSub may know his victim personally, we need to follow it up."

Everyone nodded.

"We land in half an hour."

..................................................................................................

Having five days before the seven day deadline was up meant a rare opportunity for the team to drop off their bags at the hotel and change out of the clothes they had travelled in. Meeting the local law enforcement could wait a couple of hours, after all this was NYPD, not a paranoid local sheriff.

JJ folded her shirt into the draw provided. Since she had had Henry she had taken to unpacking instead of just leaving her things neatly in her travel bag. Perhaps she was nesting? Or perhaps she had just gotten too used to clothes that didn't smell like the cheep waterproof coating of the travel bag. She took out a picture of Henry and set it on the bedside table, smiling at the bright blue eyes and brilliant smile. He was at Will's whilst she was away.

The team didn't know that she and Will had split up, not even Garcia. Things were never going to work and though she was grateful for his help and was sure he would be a good father he wasn't what she wanted. In fact, he couldn't be further from what she wanted. The object of JJ's desire, the person who's face she pictured as she lay awake in bed, the person who made her shiver with the lightest of touches was Emily. Emily Prentiss, Supervisory Special Agent and daughter of Ambassador Prentiss was all that JJ could think about. All she could think about except for Henry of course. The filled her mind in equal measure, often concurrently as JJ replayed one of the few memories that included the two of them.

Her favourite memory was when she first brought Henry into the BAU. After Henry had started crying Morgan had eagerly hand the baby off on the nearest person, who just happened to be Emily. As soon as JJ's son had been taken into Emily's soothing arms his crying had ceased and he had started contentedly up at the object of his mother's affections, his little hand fisted in Emily's top. Everyone had cooed and JJ had wandered over to the two, whispering something about Emily being a natural and placing a kiss atop her son's head. That had been the day that JJ had ended things with Will, the guy trued her really did but when he picked Henry up he cried and cried, to JJ it was fate.

A knock on the door interrupted her reminiscence, jarring her from the pleasant memory and forcing her to get up from the chair she had allowed herself to sink into and go and see who had dared disrupt her thoughts of Emily.

"Just a second." She called, touching the gun on her hip out of habit before unlatching the lock and opening the door. "Emily!"

The freshly changed profiler was smiling sheepishly, gesturing with her hand that she wanted to come in. JJ nodded with a look that said 'of course' and stepped aside for Emily to enter.

"I know it sounds a little stupid but I just wanted to check on you." Emily said, turning to face JJ when she reached the far end of the small single room.

"Garcia put you up to this?" JJ smiled knowingly, closing the door behind her and gesturing for Emily to take a seat on the bed.

"She didn't have to." Emily said sincerely. "I know this must be hard for you, it's hard enough for me trying not to think that something like this could happen to the sweet little baby I held in my arms just weeks ago. I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through."

JJ felt a rush of emotion course through her. "You're the only one on the team to immediately think of Henry. Not one of them flinched, not even his godfather, but I could see it in your eyes. It was the same thing I knew was in my own and that I could see in Hotch's, then the way you looked at me..."

"He's your son and you love him with everything you have, everyone can see that. I feel the strongest need to protect that." Emily said honestly. "We're a family, all of us, and he's part of that family. He's as much a part of all of our lives now as you are and with several kick ass FBI agents with guns to protect him..."

JJ smiled openly. It was moments like this that she thought that maybe, just maybe Emily felt the same and that she could get her fairytale happy ending. "I'm fine, knowing that you're here, that you understand."

Emily nodded. "We don't work without you JJ, we are _so_ glad to have you back."

JJ quickly brought the conversation back to the case before she did something stupid like tell Emily she loved her. "We should head over to the station if we want to speak to the family and get to the bar before it opens."

"Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Inferno (2/?)  
Fandom: Criminal Minds  
Pairing: Emily/JJ  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: I do not own _Criminal Minds_. This is just for entertainment purposes.  
Summary: A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?  
A/N: my first attempt at more than fluff in a story so please be kind!

JJ led the rest of the team into the busy bullpen of one of the NYPD stations, the station from which Detective Jim Carson had called pleading for the BAU to take his case, they had of course agreed without hesitation. The station could have been any of hundreds they had been to before and the distraught detective could have been any of the local law enforcement personnel who had been devastated by a case he couldn't solve pilling up bodies in his town or city. However, unlike most other cities they visited Ney York held bad memories for all the members of the Behavioural Analysis Unit. For Hotch is was the loss of a respected colleague and sometime love interest; for Morgan it was the memories of driving that ambulance to deserted ground only escaping the bomb by seconds; for Reid and Rossi it was the pure fear they had felt when the SUV had blown up possibly containing one of their friends; for JJ it was the look on Emily's face when she found out JJ was pregnant and that Will had proposed, just before she could hide it with congratulations and the time she had spent not knowing if Emily had been in that SUV; for Emily it was the fear that she had lost JJ in more ways than one, that she had lost her to Will and then to the bomb of a deranged UnSub.

JJ pushed the bad memories aside as she walked towards the detective she had spoke on the phone with and replaced them with the absolute relief of walking into the station and seeing Emily standing there, it had taken all of her will power not to kiss her there, she had Will now and the baby, instead settling for calling her name in relief.

"I'm Jennifer Jareau, we spoke on the phone." She held her hand out to the typically robust and greasy New York detective, hiding a wince when he all but crushed her hand. It wasn't the first time so she could hide it well. "And this is the rest of the team, Agents: Hotchner, Morgan, Rossi, Prentiss and Dr. Reid." She indicated to each of her friends in turn, not liking the dismissive look he gave Emily, cops could be such misogynists.

"Thank you all for coming." Detective Carson said honestly, shaking everyone's hand.

"If it's all right with you we could use some room to set up?" Hotch asked, glancing with absolutely no subtlety at the conference room to their left.

"Of course, go ahead." Carson nodded. "Do you need anything else?"

"Not right now, we will be heading for the crime scenes straight away. Can you supply Agents Jareau and Prentiss with the records for the family and friends of the second and third victims?" Hotch continued.

The detective nodded once more, JJ was wondering whether it was all he could do, producing a file from the desk behind him and handing it to JJ. "Everything sould be in there, they didn't have much family to speak of but there's a sister in there you might want to talk to as well as the couple who lived next door."

JJ smiled as she took the file and handed it to Emily to look over.

"Morgan, Reid you're with me. We all know where we're going, meet back here when you're done and then maybe we can present a profile to the local cops." Hotch said looking at his watch, it was 3.15 pm so they had plenty of time before darkness clouded the crime scenes.

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways, all thinking the same thing: why oh why did they have to take SUVs?

....................................................................................................................

Emily and JJ's first stop was the bar that David Anderson and James O'Neill's bodies had been found at. It was decent enough place, a tad sparkly in the day for either of the two women's tastes but in the dark they could see that it would be a nice bar. Not too upmarket but nice enough to keep upstanding clientele coming back week after week. The woman behind the bar watched them as they walked in, obviously having been warned of their visit. She introduced herself as the manager of the bar and explained that there was no crime scene this long after the incident and that she had had her cleaning contractor give the whole place and the street outside a steam clean to try to encourage people back, apparently it had worked.

"Did you know David and James well, were they regulars?" Emily asked, taking the lead in the questioning.

"They came in here from time to time, rarely together though." The manager explained. "James worked nights at the hospital so it was rare to see him in here but David was in all the time, dancing up a storm."

JJ raised her eyebrow. "Did you ever see David leave with someone that wasn't James?"

"All the time, in fact I'd say it was unusual to see him leave alone if you know what I mean." The manager said, a hint of moral superiority in her voice.

"Did you see anyone suspicious hanging around that night? Maybe sitting at one of the booths and watching David and James, it would be someone who didn't seem to fit in with the usual crowd here, a little older and probably better dressed?" Emily continued.

"How much older?"

"Forties, fifties maybe." JJ said.

The manager nodded. "There was a guy who just sat at the booth right over there and watched, never ordering anything stronger than an orange juice. He was around for about a month on and off, I can't be sure if he was here that night but he could have been."

"Can you give us a description?" JJ prompted.

"Just as you said, late forties, real well dressed, business like with one of those long black coats form Wall Street."

"Hair colour? Build?" Emily prompted.

The manager shook her head. "Do you have any idea how many people this bar gets in a night?"

JJ smiled through her annoyance. "Thanks, you've been a great help."

"Any time." The manager smiled, obviously under the impression she had just broke the case. JJ had that affect on people, making them feel important.

....................................................................................................................

JJ sighed as Emily's car door slammed shut behind her, cocooning both of them in the safety of the metal bubble.

"It seems the affair theory was right." The blonde said, starting up the engine and typing the address of James' sister into the sat nav.

"Affair might be a bit of a strong word for it." Emily said scrunching her face up in displeasure. "Do you think James knew?"

"I guess we'll find out when we talk to his sister." JJ said, indicating as she pulled away from the curb and into the impossibly slow throng of New York traffic. "She lives out in Westchester so it's going to be a bit of a drive."

Emily turned to her and smiled. "Peace and quiet at last then."

JJ couldn't help but return the smile.

....................................................................................................................

After an hour of comfortable silence JJ stole a glance at Emily and decided that it was as good a time as any to tell her about Will. The brunette was facing away from JJ with her eyes closed but JJ was pretty sure she wasn't asleep, Emily never really slept when they were away on a case.

"Em?" She called softly.

Emily turned to her, opening her chocolate brown eyes and focusing them on JJ, a pleasant smile gracing her lips.

"It's about me and Will." JJ began.

Emily's smile faltered.

"We broke up, I broke up with him." JJ said bluntly.

Concern filled Emily's eyes and JJ knew instantly that she was doing the right thing in telling Emily.

"I haven't even told Garcia yet." JJ admitted.

"What happened?" Emily enquired, sitting up properly and turning her fill attention to JJ. It always made JJ feel like the only person in the world when those beautiful dark eyes focused on her, like she was the only that mattered to Emily and that she could do anything. She knew she was probably just imagining it but it was amazing feeling all the same and having it at that moment spurred JJ on to tell the brunette what she had hid from everyone.

"I didn't love him." JJ said. "I never even thought I did, he was just a fling to try to escape this job but then I was stupid and got pregnant and felt like I had to stay with him, especially after Miami when you..." She shook her head not wanting the conversation to go there. "And then before I knew it I had to tell him I was pregnant and he had proposed, he never even waited for an answer, just expected that because I was carrying his baby I should be his wife. Truthfully I can't think of anything worse."

Emily placed a soothing hand on JJ's arm, squeezing it gently and urging JJ to go on. They were stuck in traffic so JJ knew she could finish the story without having to drive and talk.

"After Henry was born I knew I couldn't make it work, he was great but he wasn't what I wanted and after growing up in household where your mother married your father because she was head cheerleader and he was the school's football star made the thought of staying with Will unbearable. I don't think he even understands what happened."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I was in love with someone else." JJ said, white hot fear coursing through her body.

Emily didn't ask who, she didn't want to know the answer. So instead she brushed a loose strand of golden hair behind JJ's ear and cupped her cheek. "You know I'm here for you right? I'm here for you and Henry whenever you need me, no matter what."

JJ nodded, a single tear wiped away by the soft pad of Emily's thumb. She could see love and pain in Emily's eyes and it broke her heart that Emily could think for even a moment that JJ was in love with someone that wasn't her. Her mind made up to tell Emily how she feels JJ grasped Emily's hand in her own, rubbing her thumb gently over her wrist. "Emily..."

A loud beep cause them to jump apart, eyes refocusing on the now moving line of traffic in front of them. JJ flushed bright red, pressing her foot down and releasing the hand break to roll the car forward to close the gap between her and the car in front, not stopping as the traffic now seemed to be moving freely.

"Whoever it is..." Emily began, griping her seat tightly and staring straight ahead. "Whoever it is you're in love with is one lucky guy. You should go for it, tell him how you feel. You deserve to be happy."

JJ felt like crying, hands tightening on the steering wheel and body tensed. If Emily felt the same about her then why would she be pushing her into the arms of another, again? Any confidence JJ had had that had almost allowed her to confess her feelings evaporated and she resigned herself to the fact that her love was unrequited. She shook her head for the second time and tried to refocus on the case, whoever it was that killing these people, that had killed that poor innocent baby had better watch out because JJ had a lot of frustration to get out and she fully intended on releasing all of it before returning home to Henry and her life as a single mom.

For the first time in her life she felt completely alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Inferno (3/?)  
Fandom: Criminal Minds  
Pairing: Emily/JJ  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: I do not own _Criminal Minds_. This is just for entertainment purposes.  
Summary: A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?  
A/N: my first attempt at more than fluff in a story so please be kind!

JJ knocked on the perfectly painted door of Siobhan O'Neil's suburban home, looking though the glass as colours changed and a figure moved towards them. Her conversation with Emily had left her shaking, left her wound so tight that Emily had taken to gripping the handle on the inside of the car door to prevent herself being jerked forward every time JJ made a too harsh stop pr start. Traffic had meant that the journey had taken another 2 hours, 2 hours that had been spent in the most uncomfortable silence since she had sat on her couch filled with burning guilt as Will packed his things upstairs, said goodbye to his son and left. Emily had plugged her iPod into the holder after an hour, filling the car with the sounds of old soft rock from the 60s that both of them were too young to remember the first time round. It had eased JJ until a familiar song came on, Skeeter Davis' _The End of the World_ hung all too appropriate in the thin conditioned air.

JJ was just about to knock again when the door was pulled open, leaving her hand hanging in mid air. "Miss O'Neil?"

A tall pitch black haired woman stood at the door, her eyes as blue if not bluer than JJ's and her skin as pale as snow. JJ thought she looked like Snow White.

"Yes." The woman said simply, her eyes lacking a certain something.

"We're with the FBI. I'm Agent Prentiss and this is my colleague Agent Jareau." Emily said flashing her badge. "Can we come in?"

JJ tensed at the word, _colleague_, it hung in the air like something bitter and wrong. "We just have a few questions about your brother."

"I've already spoken to the police." Her accent was from the Deep South, heavy with such an accent that she could easily have been inebriated and they would never know. It was New Orleans accent, JJ would recognise it anywhere.

"We have a few more things to ask." Emily said kindly. "We know this must be a difficult time right now."

"Come in." Siobhan O'Neil said finally, moving to the side to allow the two FBI Agents to pass.

"Thanks." JJ gave her a bright smile as she passed her and followed Emily into the living room.

"Please, sit." Siobhan said, gesturing for Emily and JJ to take a seat on the two-seater couch. "What do you need to know?"

"Was your brother having any relationship problems that you know of?" Emily asked.

Siobhan sighed. "If you mean did he know about David sleeping around then yes, he knew."

"And he didn't have a problem with that?" JJ asked, her brows furrowed slightly.

"It was an accepted part of their relationship." Siobhan said, gripping her left arm just above her elbow with her right hand.

"You didn't approve?" Emily asked, her voice so calm that an otherwise accusatory question became soft and easily answerable.

"He deserved more than that and in New York... it's not safe." Siobhan said.

"Did either of them see a therapist about this?" JJ asked.

"Not that I know of." Siobhan said. "But they using a lawyer to draw up a contract about the house and the dog, a kind of prenup without the nuptials."

The two agents shared a look, this was the lead they had been waiting for: someone who knew the ins and outs of the relationship between the two men, someone who fit their profile.

"Do you know the name of the lawyer?" Emily asked.

Siobhan shook her head. "No but he worked for... Hurst Leon. I think."

...........................................................................................................

When JJ and Emily re-entered there temporary hub the rest of the team were already there, waiting for them.

"Find anything?" Emily asked.

Hotch shook his head. "Nothing. What about you?"

"We may have something." JJ started, sitting down next to Reid around the table. "Both of our victims had been seeing a lawyer for a prenup of sorts. He knew that David Anderson had been seeing other men."

"They had an open relationship?" Reid asked. "Statistically..."

A warning look from Emily stopped him in his tracks.

"It was one sided if it was." Emily said. "The sister gave us the impression that it was just David who was..." She stopped herself before the words 'sleeping around' slipped from her lips. "having other relationships."

"Did she know the lawyer's name?" Morgan asked, twirling a silver pen in his hand.

JJ shook her head. "No but she said she though he worked for Hurst Leon. I haven't heard of it before, maybe it's a smaller firm."

"It'll be easier for us if it is." Rossi said.

Hotch nodded pressing a button the conference phone.

"Garcia are you there?"

"Of course captain." She said her greeting for Hotch far toned down from the way she would greet Emily or JJ or Reid or of course Morgan.

Hotch nodded towards JJ, urging her to speak to the other blonde.

"Hey, Garcia." JJ said. "I need you to look something up for me."

"Anything for you my blue eyed girl." Garcia said, her beaming smile evident despite the distance.

"Can you cross reference the names of our victims with clients at Hurt Leon law firm?" JJ asked, knowing the answer already.

"Of course I can! Just give me a couple of hours to get through their firewall, they have one hell of a system. Garcia over and out!"

JJ couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her best friend's antics, she was easily the least appropriate person in the FBI.

"The rest of you should go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Even if we do get the information tonight there's nothing we can do about it until the firm opens in the morning." Hotch said, he was on edge, they could all tell it.

...........................................................................................................

JJ didn't think the day could get any worse. She had left her key card in the room when going out to get some ice for her throbbing toe, the one she stubbed on the bed leg, and after knocking on everyone's door but Emily's she had gotten no answer. Finally giving in she knocked on the brunette's door.

"JJ!" Emily's face was the picture of confusion when she opened the door to find the blonde stood there dressed only in her flimsy pyjamas. "Is everything okay?" She suddenly looked panicked.

"Everything's fine. I just... I'm locked out." She blushed bright red with embarrassment.

"Oh, can't you just get a new one from reception?" Emily asked, not really trusting herself to be alone with JJ at the moment.

"Not without ID." JJ explained.

"Hotch should have something, it's booked under the FBI." Emily suggested.

"No one else is answering." JJ said quietly, not missing the flash of hurt that ghosted across Emily's face when she realised that she had been the last person that JJ had turned to.

"Come in." Emily said, stepping aside and trying to suppress the shiver that ran through her when they touched briefly as JJ walked into the room. "I can sleep on the couch."

JJ felt a heavy ball tighten in her stomach. Did she repulse Emily that much? Could the older woman not even stand to sleep in the same bed as her for one night? Okay so maybe it was a single bed but they could have made it work. "I'll take the couch."

"You look exhausted." Emily protested. "Take the bed, I wasn't sleeping anyway."

JJ looked into Emily's eyes, seeing a desperate something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Okay."

...........................................................................................................

A bang startled JJ into sitting bolt upright in the bed peering through the dark as the digital clock on the bedside table flickered from 5.04am to 5.05am. A moan of pain sounded in the pitch black room.

"Emily?" She called softly. "Are you okay?"

There was more noise before Emily answered. "I'm fine just fell of the couch."

JJ sighed. "Come to bed, the couch is far too small." She knew she shouldn't be doing this, that it was selfish and wrong to want to indulge in the feel of Emily against her when the brunette had no idea what was going in on her friend's head. She felt the bed sag next to her and a warm arm brush against hers, Emily was obviously too hurt or tired to protest. Warm breath tickled her cheek sending shivers down her body to pool down low, she could tell that Emily's face was inches from her own. "Lie down." She whispered, hoping Emily wouldn't notice that her voice was laved heavily with lust.

A shift of the bed and tug on the covers told JJ that Emily had obeyed. JJ turned away from Emily and lay down beside her, gasping when she felt Emily's front lightly touching her back. It wasn't intentional, there was no room to not be so close, but it still intensified the tremors running through her body to an unbearable level. If Emily could feel her shaking or hear her ragged breaths then she didn't give any indication.

"Emily can I ask you something?" She whispered.

"Anything." Emily said.

"Have you been single the whole time you're been at the BAU?" JJ's question was tentative, nervous even.

Emily nodded knowing that in their close quarters JJ could feel her affirmative gesture.

"Why?" JJ asked, her heart racing in her chest.

There was a pause before Emily answered. "Because someone already has my heart, they just don't know it."

"I'm sorry." JJ said honestly, she hated that thought of Emily going through what she herself was going through.

"It's the same for you though right? That's what you said yesterday in the car."

"Yeah, she has no idea." She hadn't thought about what she was saying, the pronoun falling naturally from her lips. She felt Emily tense behind her and knew that she had caught the slip.

"How long?" Emily asked, her voice shaky.

JJ thought it was now or never, she knew without thinking exactly how long it had been since she had first seen Emily. "Two years, five months and thirteen days."

"Jennifer." Emily's voice was shaky.

"You don't have to say anything. I know after yesterday that you don't feel the same. I should have known when you pushed me and Will together." Matching tears ran down JJ's cheeks and moved to get up. "I'll go and see if Hotch will answer."

She was stopped by a strong arm around her waist, holding her in place. "Please tell me that I haven't got this wrong."

"No, Emily you haven't got it wrong."


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Inferno (4/?)  
**Fandom:** Criminal Minds  
**Pairing:** Emily/JJ  
**Rating:** R  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Criminal Minds_. This is just for entertainment purposes.  
**Summary****:** A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?  
**A/N:** my first attempt at more than fluff in a story so please be kind!

**This chapter is a little shorter due to time constraints but I hope you enjoy it all the same.  
**

"Did you mean it?" Emily whispered, arm still firmly holding JJ in place. Whereas JJ normally made her nervous in situations like this, not that they had been in a situation quite like this, right now Emily was deadly calm. It was the kind of calm that always came over her when she had sat down in an exam hall and looked at a paper that would change her life one way or the other, she got completely calm and her mind became crystal clear.

"I wouldn't have said it," JJ said shakily, devoid of such calmness, "if I hadn't meant it."

"Will you run if I let you go?" Emily asked softly.

"Not if you want me to stay."

"Stay." Emily said, her tone pleading. She lifted her arm from JJ and turned to switch on the lamp on the bedside table beside her, squinting when a dull light pierced the darkness. "That's better." She smiled slightly, now able to see JJ. The blonde looked absolutely terrified. Her eyes were wide and shining and she was shaking. She looked so small and helpless that all Emily wanted to do was warp her arms around her and whisper how everything was going to be alright as stroked her hand through that perfect golden hair. The thing was though, she didn't know if everything was going to be alright. "Jennifer I..." She didn't want to spook the other woman by saying those words too soon. "I feel the same as you say you do."

"I do." JJ said quickly. "I do mean what I said."

"And I mean what I said." Emily said. "But there's a difference between knowing what we know and acting on it. The bureau..."

"Won't break up the team." JJ said. "I'm sure of it. We have one of the highest success rates in the FBI."

"Strauss had grudges against me." Emily reasoned. "I won't cost you your career. I could never do that to you."

"She had a grudge against the entire team." JJ reminded her. "Look, if you don't want to..."

"I do." Emily said quickly, her hand grasping JJ's arm. "God, JJ I..." She struggled to find the words, searching the chasms of her mind for the something to say that would make everything alright. Finding nothing she leaned forward to kiss JJ, pausing briefly an inch away to give JJ the chance to pull away, finally touching their lips together in a kiss so tentative it was barely there.

It was over before it had really began, leaving both women inches from each other with lips slightly parted and eyes nearly closed. A few seconds that seemed to last for hours passed before JJ made the second move, using her hand on the back of Emily's neck to bring their lips together again, this time for a slightly deeper kiss. Emily moaned at JJ's boldness, completely taken by surprise when JJ's tongue traced along her bottom lip, surging inside when Emily's mouth opened almost of its own accord. JJ lay back down, pulling Emily with her until half the brunette's weight lay deliciously on top of her.

They pulled apart, gasping, when their lungs began to burn and their heads to spin.

"Not here." Emily panted.

JJ's brow furrowed, her expression half way between confusion and hurt.

"Not in a strange hotel room, not in the middle of case like this. It's no way to start something this precious." Emily clarified.

JJ nodded, smiling slightly at her consideration as Emily rolled off her. "Come home with me when we get back to Quantico? I really want to talk about things properly but with Henry..." She trailed off, hoping that Emily would still want her now that Henry was part of package now.

"Mmmm, come here." Emily moaned sleepily, reaching out her arms and pulling JJ into a gentle embrace, tucking her chin above JJ's head. "You can go and get Henry while I drop off my stuff and get changed out of my work clothes into something a bit less spoilable by baby mess."

"That sounds great." JJ giggled softly. "You know, no one's held me like this in... forever."

Emily squeezed her tighter. "Well get used to it because it feels so good to finally have you in my arms."

"What about Henry?" She asked tentatively.

"You said you could see it, me and kids. I guess we'll find out if you were right." Emily said, her hand running up and down JJ's back soothingly. "If he's anything like his mother then I'm sure I'll love him."

JJ fell asleep that night content in Emily's arms, completely unaware of the horror that they would wake up to.

..................................................................................................................

"Isn't that Emily's top?" Morgan asked, eyebrow raised when the two female agents walked into the room the BAU had set up the police station.

"Yes." JJ said confidently, pulling at the material of the too large top to emphasise its poor fit. "But maybe I would have been able to get back into my own room after being locked out last night if any of the rest of you had opened your doors when I knocked last night."

"You knocked last night?" Reid said, his voice an octave higher and Emily couldn't help but think that he would have loved to be JJ's knight in shining armour the night before.

"On all of your doors, even yours Hotch. I needed some ID to get another room key but none of you answered." JJ explained. "Emily finally opened up and offered to let me stay there for the night."

"Really?" Morgan smirked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"I slept on the couch." Emily said. Well, it wasn't a complete lie, she had started out on the couch. "You all owe me big time for the bruises I got from falling off the damn thing."

"JJ, you should have phoned." Hotch said seriously. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, we can get you knew key when we go back tonight."

JJ nodded, highly doubting that Hotch had returned to the hotel the night before.

"Have we heard from Garcia yet?" Emily asked, eager to get this case over with so she could get back to DC.

The conference phone rung as if on cue. Morgan pressed the speakerphone button and Garcia's cheery voice filled the room.

"Goddess of information calling."

"Hey baby girl, you got something for us?" Morgan asked.

"Of course I do my lovely. All of the victims have ties to a one Joseph Rain. He works as you so rightly suggested for Hurst Leon. Apparently last year the firm got into trouble over some tax discrepancies and ever since Mr Rain and a couple of their other lawyers have been working on behalf of the state whilst still receiving their generous private firm pay check. Sounds a bit shady to me but hey this is New York." Garcia informed them sounding rather please with herself at rooting out some of the governments less that kosher activities. "It turns out he worked on the forced adoption of Emilia Carson from her drug addict of a mother; he was as you have probably guessed working on David Anderson and James O'Neill's prenupas a private consultant; he is also recorded as the prosecutor on Tom Ryman's recent scuffle with the owners of an all-you-can-eat uptown, apparently he was not too pleased at being told he had eaten enough. Lastly but definitely not least-ly he defended Antoinette Nevau's ex boyfriend when she filled a restraining order against him. All of the cases coincide with the timeline, he took one case after another."

"That's great work Garcia do you have an address?" Hotch asked.

"Should be beeping into your PDA's as we speak along with a list of his current clients. I took the liberty of those who fit the victimology of the next circle." Garcia said brightly.

"How do we know this is our guy?" Rossi asked.

"Now there's where it get's interesting. Just after the first murder Mr Rain was admitted to the psychological ward of Mount Sinai after suffering a breakdown after his wife left him taking their baby son with her."Garcia paused. "The records are pretty hazy on personal details for obvious reasons but it looks as if she was having an affair with her assistant, her twenty something year old female Yale graduate assistant."

"Ouch!" Morgan hissed. "That's gotta hurt."

"Does age fit?" Hotch asked.

"Forty nine last month." Garcia confirmed.

"This seems way too easy." Rossi said.

"Not easy. Ten hours of searching and one or two less than strictly legal invasions into company files does not count as easy." Garcia said. "Now if that's all I need to get another coffee before I fall asleep on my keyboard and get woken up by that stupid high pitched beeping again."

"Thanks Garcia, we'll call you if we need anything else." Hotch said.

"Happy to be of service." She said before clicking off the line.

"I guess we have a lawyer to pay a visit to." Morgan said, taking the address from his PDA.

"Morgan you and Prentiss go talk to Mr Rain's wife, see if you can get a feel for how he took the breakup. It could be his stressor." Hotch said.

Morgan and Emily both nodded and headed out of the room.

"Reid, JJ can you two go through the list of clients Garcia sent over, get protection for those you think are potential targets. Rossi, you and I will go to Hurst Leon and see what we can find out from his colleagues."

Before anyone else could move Emily ran back into the room. "We have another body."


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Inferno (5/?)  
Fandom: Criminal Minds  
Pairing: Emily/JJ  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: I do not own _Criminal Minds_. This is just for entertainment purposes.  
Summary: A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?  
A/N: my first attempt at more than fluff in a story so please be kind!

A bit longer again to make up for the short one last time.

"Christ!" Morgan swore when the sight and smell of the body hit him full on as he entered the grimy bathroom of Jamie Lewis, a NYU dropout with a history of depression and drug addiction. He had been the top of Garcia's list. "How long's he been dead Doc?"

"At least three days." The ME confirmed, standing up and away from the body. "I'll have to do a full autopsy to be sure but I'm confident in my assessment that this is a drowning, I'd say suicide but the bruises on his forehead and chest suggest he was held down. He didn't stand a chance."

Morgan nodded and walked back out of the room. "Hotch, you still want me and Prentiss to head out to the wife's?"

"Take JJ with you. This guy's devolving, killing only three days apart and if it's not Rain then i want to know as soon as possible." Hotch said.

"Rossi and I are going to head up to the law firm and see if they can get a feel for the guy without spooking him. An UnSub like this may go into a frenzy to complete his mission is he thinks we're onto him." Hotch said. "Reid can go over the list, see if he can find our next victim before Rain does."

.................................................................................................................

"I think Morgan knows something happened last night." JJ whispered to Emily as they waited for Morgan to finish up parking the car. They were standing in the hall outside an apartment that had seen better days in a building that hadn't been renovated since the eighties.

"Nothing happened last night, not really." Emily said. "How could he possibly know?"

"You remember what you do for a living right? Your brain hasn't been turned to mush?"

"Turned to mush?" Emile smirked.

"I saw it on a cartoon Henry was watching the other day." JJ said defensively.

"Henry was watching a cartoon?" Emily continued smirking, now raising an eyebrow to add to her look of amused disbelief.

"Yep," JJ said, turning from Emily to watch as Morgan made his way up the stairs, "Rugrats, can't beat the classics."

"You still scared of taking the elevator?" Emily teased, turning her smirk on Morgan.

"Ha ha." Morgan deadpanned. "This place is a dump, student digs if I ever saw them. It's quite a fall in standard from a house in Westchester. Must be love."

"Or she figured out her husband was psychotic." JJ countered, knocking on the door.

"Not psychotic, I hate it when people use words they don't know the meaning..." Morgan's rant was cut short when an attractive blonde woman no older than 24 opened the door.

"Can I help you?" She asked, brushing her hand affectionately over the head of the young toddler clinging to her leg.

"Miss Jones?" Emily guessed. The woman nodded. "We're from the FBI," Emily said, flashing her badge in time with JJ and Morgan, "is Mrs. Rain at home?"

"Can I ask what this is about?" She asked.

"It's about her ex. Can we come in?" Morgan asked.

The woman nodded, bending down to pick up the small boy and gesturing for them to come in. "She's in the living room. She's not been well so..."

JJ smiled reassuringly as she passed the younger woman. "Don't worry, it won't take long."

The three agent walked into the living room, a small room just off the main hall, as Leila Jones took the Rain child into the other room. JJ was glad, she wouldn't want Henry in the room if she was being questioned by the FBI over his father.

"Mrs. Rain, we're Agents Prentiss, Jareau and Morgan." Emily introduced, taking in the frail woman in front of her. Cassidy Rain was thirty-three, they knew this from the information Garcia had sent them, but at the moment she looked as if she was in her sixties. Garcia had warned them that she may not be in the best of health, having been diagnosed with a rapidly progressing form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma two weeks after leaving her husband and was currently undergoing the most severe course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy licences in the United States. It was clear that she had once been beautiful but in the recent months her dark hair had lost its shine and her skin had become so pallid that it was practically translucent. "Can we ask you a few questions about your husband?"

The weakened woman nodded, barely able to sit up without aid. "What's he done now?"

"We just wanted to ask a few questions about how he took your breakup." Morgan said. "Did he get angry when you told him you were leaving?"

"He didn't even flinch." She said. "It was as if he hadn't even heard me."

"Are you aware he underwent psychological treatment in the weeks following the breakup?" JJ asked.

Cassidy Rain nodded. "I'm still his next of kin, the hospital phoned me when he was admitted."

"Did he have any psychological problems before the breakup?" Morgan asked. "Maybe an overly short temper or..."

"After the baby was born her slipped into a depression. He wouldn't even look at Jonathan, he's never touched him once in his two years of life. He got completely shut off, wouldn't talk to me about it or go to see someone professional. After one and a half years of not being touched by him I met Leila. I just couldn't stand being with him anymore, that's when I left." She explained, her voice showing her need to justify the decision to leave her husband.

"And he didn't see a psychiatrist at all during this time?" Emily asked.

Cassidy shook her head no. "He seemed to have some kind of post-natal depression you know? Changed completely from the moment Jonathan was born."

A coughing fit halted the conversation, only ending when Leila rushed in with a glass of water with something cloudy dissolved in it, helping Cassidy to take a sip before sitting down beside her to hold the drink whist the coughing subsided.

"We just have one last question Mrs... Cassidy." Morgan said, quickly dropped the formality at the sight in front of him. "Did your husband ever read Dante's Divine Comedy?"

"He had an old leather bound copy he got on London. He read it all the time, why?" Cassidy asked.

"Just something to do with a case we're currently working." JJ said, smiling in that way that put everyone at ease. "It's nothing for you to worry about, just routine enquiries."

Cassidy seemed satisfied with the answer.

"If that's all, I'll show you out." Leila said, standing from the couch and ushering them out of the room. The move was a protective one, not a rude one, so the three agents didn't protest as they were shown into the hallway and to the front door. Once they were outside Leila followed them, closing the door behind her. "This is about the killings on the news isn't it? They mentioned the Inferno."

JJ nodded.

"You think it's him?" Leila asked.

"We really aren't at a liberty to say." JJ answered, her eyes conveying all they couldn't vocalise.

"I don't want her to know." Leila said. "She's going through enough without being dragged through this as well. I don't want her knowing that she was the stressor that set this guy off."

Emily raised her eyebrow at the use of the profiling term.

"I minored in Social Psychology at Yale." She explained. "We had a series of lectures from a profiler called Gideon on Criminal Psychology."

"He was a colleague of ours." Morgan smiled, his memory drifting back to a time when Jason Gideon had been the lead profiler on their team. "Thank you for your time, we're sorry for any inconvenience."

"Are prayers are with Cassidy." JJ said kindly.

"Thank you."Leila nodded before disappearing back into the apartment.

.................................................................................................................

Back at the station the team members shared what they had learned.

"I don't realistically think that the wife will make it to testify if Rain's our guy. Even if she's still alive she'll be in no fit state." Morgan said.

"Who has legal rights over the child?" Rossi asked.

"Garcia says that Cassidy has put an application in for Leila Jones to be awarded sole custardy upon her death." JJ filled in. "It's being rushed through the courts."

"With Rain's history of mental health problems and the violent outbursts at work we discovered he won't stand a chance." Hotch said. "No judge in his right mind would award him custardy."

"That doesn't mean that Jones will get it though. Not with the state of the legal system as it is." Morgan said. "Especially once they hear that Cassidy Rain left her lawyer husband for her."

"Then let's make sure we get this guy before then." Hotch said.

"Are we sure he's our guy?" Reid asked.

"Everything fits." Rossi said.

"His wife even said he had a thing for Date." Emily chipped in.

Hotch was silent for a moment, considering. "Everything we have in circumstantial, not enough for a warrant."

"Bring him in, a mission killer like him won't be able to resist the temptation to mouth off about his kills." Emily said.

"And if you mention his wife and her girlfriend, maybe bring in his child, he won't last long." Morgan said.

"It'll be one of the most harsh interrogations we have ever done." Hotch said, clearly uncomfortab;e with the idea. "And if we can't get anything to stick then we could all be risking our jobs."

"He bludgeoned a baby to death." JJ said, her eyes dark and wild.

Hotch nodded. "We'll bring him in."

.................................................................................................................

Rain hadn't put up a fight when they had burst into his home, Kevlar vests in place and guns raised. He had come quietly, clutching his copy of the Divine Comedy to his chest as he was bundled into the NYPD car, hands cuffed. Now, four hours later, Emily and Rossi were in the interrogation room with him.

Rossi laid the pictures of the crime scenes out in front of Joseph Rain. "Emilia Carson, David Anderson, James O'Neill, Tom Ryman, Antoinette Nevau and Jamie Lewis. Six bodies in less than three months that's one serious appetite for killing you have there."

"I've never seen these people before." Rain said, looking straight into Rossi's eyes. He hadn't looked at Emily since she walked into the room.

"What set you off Joseph? Was it the fact that your wife left you?" Rossi asked, his voice soft as he prepared to play good cop to Emily's bad cop. If the profile was right he had an inferiority complex when it came to women so Emily was just the person to get him to crack.

Rain looked down.

"Or was it the fact that she left you for another woman?" Emily asked, her voice laced with a smugness she knew would get Rain roiled up. "A _younger_ woman with a better _degree_ than you from a better _college_ than you and with career prospects that you could never dream of."

"Come on man, I know how hard that must have been just tell me what happened and I can help you." Rossi said, sitting down opposite Rain.

"Help him?" Emily laughed. "We have enough evidence to send him away for life. Why are we even bothering with this? He's obviously not worth it, just an impotent nobody past his prime who couldn't keep his wife satisfied."

"Shut up." Rain bit, his voice low and dangerous.

"She was so desperate she had to turn to her valley girl of an assistant to get off." Emily continued, circling behind him. "Do you want to know what they were doing when we called over there to ask her some questions about you? Let's just say you were definitely not the reason she was so... worked up."

"I said shut up!" Rain shouted.

"Is that what did it for you? Is that was set you off? Or is it the fact that your son calls your wife's girlfriend 'Mom'?" Emily said, stopping beside him and bringing her hands down on the table with a bang.

"You lying bitch!" Rain snapped, jumping up from his seat and slamming Emily into the wall, smashing her face against it. "Yes I killed them, I killed them because they were all sinners. Sinners like you that bitch!"

The door burst open and Rain was pulled off Emily before he could do any serious damage but not before blood trickled down her forehead and into her eye, blocking her vision.

"I'll get you, you bitch!" He yelled as he was dragged out of the room. "You and that blonde whore from the TV, don't think I didn't see her talking about me because I did and I'm going to kill both of you!"

"You okay?"Rossi asked, placing a hand on Emily's shoulder.

"I got a confession didn't I? It's only a matter of time 'till he's sent down and he's never going to get out." She wiped the blood from her eye, following it up to the cut on her head.

"Come on, let's get someone to take a look at the cut." Rossi said guiding Emily from the room, ignoring Emily's protests that she was fine and that she didn't need to see anybody about her 'scratch'.

.................................................................................................................

JJ sat opposite Emily on the plane, Reid sitting protectively beside her. He hadn't left her side since Rain's threat, despite the man's incarceration. Morgan was sat next to Emily whilst Hotch and Rossi slept in the individual chairs at the back of the plane.

"What is with you and head injuries?" JJ said, motherly concern and a hint of scolding entering her voice as she leant across the table to brush Emily's bangs to the side to inspect the stitches on the brunette's forehead.

"At least now it's even." Morgan joked. "One on each side."

Emily hit him on the arm. "I didn't see you volunteering to get Rain worked up enough to confess. That bastard is going to be locked up for the rest of his life thanks to me." She was smirking slightly, enjoying the look of adoration JJ was giving her.

"What if he doesn't get found guilty? What if..." Reid began, inching closer to JJ.

"Then JJ will have a bad ass Southern cop with a gun to protect her." Morgan assured him.

JJ sighed, knowing that know was the perfect opportunity to come clean about her and Will. She had told Garcia that evening when they were waiting for clearance to fly, the tech analyst had been over the moon when JJ had slipped in the fact that she and Emily had kissed the night before. She had been sworn to secret and JJ knew that she would keep quiet to protect the two of them. "Will and I broke up."

"What?" Reid quickly turned to JJ. "Are you alright? What did he do? How could he leave you and Henry?"

"Actually I left him." JJ said.

"Good for you, he was never right for you." Morgan smiled at her, a glint in his eye saying that he knew more than he was letting on.

"Do you need any help with Henry, I mean I am his godfather and I was thinking I could..."

JJ cut Reid off. "No need, I'm fine. And besides, Emily is coming over tonight to help me with him. Aren't you Em?" JJ smiled impishly at Emily.

"Can't let you do this alone can I? Especially after such a hard case, you need to rest." Emily smiled back.

"Yeah... rest." JJ smirked.

"Something tells me that there isn't going to be much resting going on." Morgan said, adding his own smirk to the mix.

"What? Why?" Reid asked, frowning as the other three dissolved into laughter. "I don't get it, why won't JJ be getting any rest?"

"It goes without saying that this is incredibly knew and not to go beyond this table." Emily said.

"Of course, though I assume my girl already knows?" Morgan asked,

JJ nodded.

"Then my lips are sealed. And for the record, it's about time. I'm happy for you, for both of you." Morgan said, squeezing Emily with one arm.

"What's going on? I don't understand." Reid said.

"You promise not to freak out and not to tell anyone?" JJ asked him.

"Of course!" He said eagerly, he would agree to anything JJ asked him.

JJ stood up, checking that Hotch and Rossi were definitely asleep before leaning across the table and placing a chaste kiss on Emily's lips. Sitting back down again she turned to Reid.

"Do you understand now?" She asked him, her voice soft. She didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"You and Emily?" He asked.

JJ nodded.

"Oh." He said. "That's great." Emily gave him a sympathetic smile and he finally smiled back. "You both deserve to be happy."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Inferno (6/6)  
Fandom: Criminal Minds  
Pairing: Emily/JJ  
Rating: R  
Disclaimer: I do not own _Criminal Minds_. This is just for entertainment purposes.  
Summary: A killer is enacting Dante's Divine Comedy, can the team catch him before he reaches the ninth and final circle and can Emily and JJ finally cross the line into something more than friendship? How will Henry affect JJ's outlook on the case and on Emily?  
A/N: my first attempt at more than fluff in a story so please be kind!

JJ smiled as she closed the door to her two month old apartment, bouncing Henry in her arms and dropping both of their away bags on the floor. She had bought the apartment outright from the sale of her out of town three bedroom house that had held way too many Will related memories to serve as a viable comfort from her job. It was good to live in DC, everything was on hand and the local schools were more than she could have dreamed up when she was chasing a ball around East Allegheny and discovering more about literature from the portable library that wheeled in once a month than from all of her stuffy professors combined.

"No small town education for you. No sports scholarships either, you are going to get into college the smart way." She said to the giggling boy in her arms. "And no FBI either." She added, placing him in his playpen and watching as he wobbled slightly before righting himself and grabbing the closest brightly coloured toy.

She wandered into the attached kitchen and grabbed a jar of babyfood along with the powder blue highchair that Reid had bought her and a hideously cute baby spoon before making her way back out to the living room and setting up for Henry's feed. Groaning slightly at the weight he had put on the last few months she lifted Henry from the playpen and sat him in the highchair, pulling faces to keep him occupied whilst she wrestled with the jar lid. "Eat up baby because we have a special visitor due any minute and I don't want to be covered in baby food when she gets here." JJ smiled, gasping in faux delight as Henry willingly accepted the first spoonful. "Good boy."

Within ten minutes Henry was happily banging his hands on the highchair table and gurgling as JJ wiped the last of the suspiciously coloured mush from around his mouth.

_Ding-dong_

Suddenly glad that she had invested in an honest to goodness white picket fence issue doorbell she quickly listed Henry from his highchair and balanced him on her hip. "Be a good boy for Mommy Henry, we don't want to scare her off. God knows why she hasn't been already."

Opening the door she was faces with an uncharacteristically cheery looking Emily dressed in equally uncharacteristic low slung jeans and a loose fitting white shirt. "Not to early am I?" The dark haired woman asked, eyes dropping to the stain on JJ's sweater.

"Not at all, come in." JJ said. Stepping aside and beaming as Henry reached out for Emily as she passed. "Do you mind watching him for a few minutes whilst I change into something a bit less babyfood-y?"

"Sure." Emily said, smiling nervously as Henry was placed in her arms.

"Don't worry, you're a natural." JJ called over her shoulder as she madder her way up the stairs Will had told her on several occasions were not suitable for children.

"Under supervision." Emily muttered, jerking her head back as grabby little baby fingers lunged for her hair. Clasping the slightly sticky digits in her hand Emily bounced the blonde boy up and down. "What do you think Henry, do I have a chance with our mom?"

Henry looked up at her with sapphire eyes, a look of concentration creasing his chubby features before he broke out into a smile and a foul smell filled the air.

"Wonderful." Emily whispered, making her way over to the changing table.

By the time that JJ had returned freshly changed and washed Henry was securely in a new nappy and was patting Emily's face excitedly as she attempted to button up his dungarees with her free hand.

"I see you have discovered the wonders of a dirty nappy?" JJ quipped, startling Emily slightly.

"It's not exactly my first. Do you have any idea how many embassy brats I have babysat whilst our mothers discussed the political stability of the Middle East?" Emily smirked, pleased with her successful nappy changing and the outfit JJ had 'slipped into'. The blonde was wearing Emily's favourite outfit, a black halter top that Garcia had bought her and equally black tight fitting jeans.

"Embassy brats, huh?" JJ smirked. "And what does that make you?"

"Highly skilled with infants?" Emily ventured.

"Apparently so." JJ smiled, taking a reluctant Henry and placing him back in his playpen. "It's his bedtime in about an hour, do you think you can wait that long to eat?"

Emily nodded. "Sounds good to me. If you want a take-out we should probably order it soon, DC is busy on a Friday night."

Friday night. JJ had lost count of what day it was, having a baby did that to you. Too much routine and all days seem to blur into one. "Pizza?"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

An hour passed and then two until soon the pizza box was empty and the bottle of red was well on it's way to joining it in the bin. The lights had been dimmed somewhere around the second glass and it seemed that with each sip of the intoxicating liquid that the space between them on the couch lessened.

"It's getting late." Emily said, her eyes a shade darker than usual in the muted light.

"It's a Friday night, late is allowed." JJ reminded her.

"Henry will still get you up early." Emily reminded her, another piece of information she had learned over the years; Sleeping in and children did not mix. "Maybe I should head off."

"Don't." JJ said, catching Emily's arm when the brunette made a move to get up. "Just stay a little longer."

Emily nodded, settling back down and leaning her elbow against the back of the couch, propping her head up on her hand and gazing at JJ. "How're things with Henry? It must be hard without Will."

JJ frowned slightly at the turn their perfectly nice conversation had taken. "Not hard, just different. Truth old I find it easier without him, I get to do things my way. There are no arguments over feeding or work or which toys he can and cannot play with." She smiled slightly. "And I get to bring him up a Redskins fan."

"Ahh, there it is. The real reason for the break up." Emily laughed.

"I'll have you know that sport incompatibility was not the reason I broke up with Will." JJ chuckled, finding Emily's laughing impossibly contagious.

"And what was the reason? Too much crawfish?" Emily's eyes glinted as she teased the younger woman.

JJ just smiled and leaned forward, ghosting her lips over Emily's. "That's why." She whispered.

"What if I didn't…" Emily began.

JJ cut her off with another kiss. "But you did."

"And what if I hadn't…"

JJ kissed her again. "But you have."

"JJ…"

"Emily." JJ brushed a stray strand of hair behind Emily's ears. "Do you fancy testing your theory on sleeping in?"

Emily nodded, letting JJ pull her up off the couch and lead her by the hand towards the stairs.

"Good." JJ said, throwing a coy smile over her shoulder. "Because I have a few theories of my own I'd like to try out."


End file.
